Daily archives: June 26, 2015

The government has adopted a plan to facilitate transfer of unused land of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) having outstanding bank loans of Tk100 crore or above, for their better commercial use and to expedite the country’s economic growth.

A recent inter-ministerial meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office with Principal Secretary Abul Kalam Azad in the chair made the decision. The decision was forwarded to the Ministry of Finance for its opinion, officials said.

BGB Naik Abdur Razzak, who returned to country on Thursday after being held captive by Myanmar for eight days, was brought to the capital last night for medical treatment.

He reached the Pilkhana Border Guard Bangladesh Headquarters around 11:30pm. “After having rest for the night, he will be admitted to the BGB Hospital in the morning,” Mohosin Reza, public relations officer of the BGB, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Three French banks have said they will not invest in the Rampal power plant, as a report found that it failed to meet minimum environmental and social standards established by the Equator Principles and the International Finance Corporation’s Performance Standards.

The 1,320MW Rampal coal-fired power plant has received hefty support from both the Indian and Bangladeshi governments as a symbol of sub-regional cooperation but has seen foreign investors shy away from participation in the project.

The jubilant people of 162 Bangladesh-India enclaves held a rally in Tin Bigha corridor yesterday ahead of the exchange of the adversely held land between the two countries.

The Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee’s Bangladesh and Indian units jointly arranged the programme in Tin Bigha area, a corridor connecting Dahagram and Angarpota enclaves of Bangladesh with the mainland.

A befitting law will be formed soon to control drug use and no one involved with drug smuggling will be spared, State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said yesterday.

Regardless of which political party the drug traders may have connections with, each of them must be punished, the state minister said while addressing an event on the occasion of International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking yesterday at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital.

For 68 long years, the children of the enclaves in Kurigram have been deprived of education. But that scene has now changed. The recently established preschools in the enclave areas are now vibrant with children.

To educate these deprived children, the Islamic Foundation established these education centres in mosques, courtyards in the Choto Kamat, Boro Kamat, Raser Mela and other areas of the Dasiarchara enclave in the district. With the door to education and opportunities now open, parents along with the children are now excited.

A group of young men in an attack vandalised several shops in Sylhet’s Housing Estate on Thursday night over a trifling matter.

Police said an altercation between two men led to a scuffle on Thursday evening after a car on the Housing Estate street hit some rickshaws, causing those to tilt to one side. Locals later intervened and stopped the fight.

But hours later, a band of young men arrived in the area on some 50 motorcycles, and attacked shops with machetes and rods while chanting the Joy Bangla slogan.

Petrobangla has sought extra time to reply to a payment claim filed by Niko Resources (Bangladesh) Ltd with the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), after having failed to meet several earlier deadlines.

The Tribunals ordered on September 11 last year that Petrobangla pay Niko its overdue bills.

Petrobangla was ordered to pay Niko $25,312,747 (around Tk200 crore) for Niko’s invoices on gas deliveries between November 2004 and April 2010 plus another Tk139,988,337.

Rain has damaged piles of imported goods worth millions at the Benapole land port as the hundred years old shades are in shambles.

Rain water easily seeps through these shades, said sources at the port.

They said during the continuous rain in the last three days, water easily entered through the broken pipe of the shade number nine and damaged powders and seeds of paddy and jute imported from India stored inside the shade.

Terming Bangladesh’s January 2014 national election “flawed,” the US State Department in its latest report said politically motivated and intra-party violence remained serious problems last year.

The State Department’s Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 2014 released on Thursday also criticised the government for not investigating the cases of arbitrary and unlawful killings committed by the “government or its agents.”

A section of teachers of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) under the banner of ‘Mohan Muktijuddher Chetonay Udbuddho Shikshok Forum’ continued their demonstrations against Vice-Chancellor Professor Aminul Haque Bhuiyan yesterday demanding his removal.

The agitating teachers laid siege to the office of the VC for the fifth consecutive days yesterday. Convener of the platform, Professor Syed Shamsul Alam, said they would continue their protest until the VC quits.

Chittagong District Administration in a drive demolished 25 risky establishments and sealed off about 75 dwelling houses from the slopes of hills in the city’s Lalkhan Bazar area to avoid possible landslide as heavy downpour is continuing.

Assistant Commissioner (AC) and executive magistrate Ruhul Amin of Chittagong District Administration led the drive at Motijarna Hill of Lalkhan Bazar from 11am to 3:30pm. Staffs from Fire Service and Civil Defence personnel, Power Development Board and Chittagong were present during the drive.

The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) has signed a deal with private operator Saif Powertech, giving it the job of operating two jetties at the New-mooring Container Terminal.

CPA Chairman Nizamuddin Ahmed and Saif Powertech Managing Director Tarafdar Ruhul Amin signed the deal on Thursday, regarding the operation of Jetty 4 and 5 for the next two years. The company would handle 701,400 units of container for Tk49.64 crore.

At least 27 people, including foreign tourists, were killed and six were wounded when at least one gunman opened fire on a Tunisian beachside hotel in the popular resort of Sousse yesterday, an interior ministry spokesman said.

Police were still clearing the area around the Imperial Marhaba Hotel and the body of one gunman lay at the scene with a Kalashnikov assault rifle after he was shot in an exchange of gunfire, a security source at the scene said.